How much you need to work to afford rent in major Texas cities

(NEXSTAR) – It’s no query that affording housing – whether or not proudly owning or renting – is pricey. Whereas most Individuals say they’re spending about 25% of their earnings on housing bills, in keeping with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that’s not precisely the case in a few of Texas’s largest cities.

In a latest evaluation, SmartAsset reviewed the nation’s 25 largest cities to find out the variety of hours a renter would wish to work to cowl housing prices based mostly on three metrics: common annual take-home pay, common hours labored per 12 months, and median month-to-month lease.

For instance, in Detroit, the estimated hourly wage is $20.80 after taxes whereas the median lease is $850. This implies a renter must work simply over 40 hours to cowl their lease every month. Detroit is the one metropolis SmartAsset reviewed the place a renter must work only one full-time week to cowl lease.

The evaluation additionally referred to a standard monetary rule of thumb – you shouldn’t spend greater than 30% of your pre-tax earnings on housing. In Detroit, SmartAsset’s evaluation discovered renters are following that monetary guideline and spending about 25% of their pre-tax earnings on housing.

In a few of Texas’s largest cities, that isn’t all the time doable.

Renters in Austin should work extra hours simply to cowl lease than these residing in some other Texas metropolis analyzed, SmartAsset discovered. With an estimated hourly wage of $23.44 and a median month-to-month lease of $1,346, these residing in Austin must work barely greater than 57 hours to cowl lease.

Austin is the one Texas metropolis to land throughout the high 10 on SmartAsset’s listing. Dallas and Houston have been the following highest on the listing, coming in at twelfth and thirteenth, respectively. They weren’t very completely different both.

In Dallas, with an estimated hourly wage of $20.61 and a median lease of $1,111, the common resident would wish to work 53.9 hours to cowl lease. In Houston, 53.8 hours of labor are wanted to afford a median lease of $1,086 with an estimated hourly wage of $20.20.

Shut behind have been Fort Value and San Antonio. Simply over 52 hours of labor with an estimated hourly wage of $21.35 covers Fort Value’s median lease of $1,115. In San Antonio, you’d want 51.8 hours of labor with an estimated wage of $19.78 an hour to afford the common lease of $1,025.

Rounding out Texas’ cities on the listing was El Paso. With the bottom estimated hourly wage on the listing at $18.02, you’d must work 47.6 hours to afford El Paso’s median lease of $857 (the second-lowest fee on the listing after Detroit’s $850).

Renters in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Fort Value, and San Antonio aren’t precisely following the monetary rule of spending not more than 30% of their earnings on housing, however they do come shut. Based mostly on SmartAsset’s information, right here is roughly how a lot of a median renter’s earnings goes to housing:

• Austin: 36%
• Dallas: 34%
• Houston: 33%
• Fort Value: 33%
• San Antonio: 32%

El Paso is the one Texas metropolis the place the common renters are spending lower than 30% of their earnings on housing at 29.7%.

Topping out SmartAsset’s total evaluation was San Jose, California, the place renters should work virtually two weeks of full-time work to cowl a median lease of $2,232.

These rankings might not come as a shock to some Texas renters. Hire in two Austin neighborhoods alone has risen by greater than 100% over the previous 12 months, a latest report discovered.